Tuesday 18 December 2012

Independent Inspection

We had Independent Inspection on Sunday and Howard forwarded the report on Monday. There were no major issues but lot of minor issues. Good news SS acknowledged these and will address these issue. Here are the issues he found

1) Gap between window frames and the brick work

2) rear sliding door damaged sill

3) garage slab floor need protecting as they are intended to be a furnished surface

4) mortor issues (which we already raised with SS)

5) Garage , Copper pipe needs saddle to be fitted to hold this pipe to the brick work

6) Rear door steel frame and hinges are in rusted condition

7) W/C shower , wall noggings incomplete

8) Guest Bedroom , Ceiling trimmers incomplete around the sewer duct pipes

9) 1st Bedroom/Robe, Wall noggings incomplete

10) 4th Bedroom/Robe, Wall noggings incomplete

Thursday 13 December 2012

Lower Roof

Finally we have lower roof. It took so long to get the lower roof done, I was pushing hard SS. SS excused was due to early last week rains roofing people had few jobs in pipe line so they had to finish these before turning up at our place. Hopefully lower eaves should be done today or tomorrow. I am loving my bricks, the more I look the more I love them. We should have Independent Frame Inspection late next week finger crossed though.
 








 

Saturday 1 December 2012

Bricks Cleaned

Here are few latest pictures of the house after brick work cleaned and scaffloding removed. We are having inspection on Tuesday so will raise our concern with SS about the minor mortor issues.







 

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Brick Issues

I went to my site yesterday to see how the bricks look after wash, not happy at all about the mortor. Bricks look beautiful in bit and pieces, I can see heaps of mortor issues, not having great feeling. Will wait for the lower brick to be cleaned , have inspection with SS and take up this issue with him, no way they leave it as it is, they have to fix it.

Sunday 18 November 2012

Upper Bricks Cleaned

We had our upper bricks ( few rows) cleaned yesterday and they have come up pretty well though there are few small chips and motor issue, will take up with SS once the lower bricks clean. They will complete the upper bricks clean on Monday, will visit on Tuesday to see how they look once mortor is dried.




Upper Roof Completed

Upper roof completed, it is Dune colorbond. It is really looking nice , pictures dont do justics as it is light color so it looks different all together under sun or clouds.




 

Sunday 11 November 2012

Guttering and Fascia

Guttering and Fascia completed on Thursday, roof is the next. We visited the site on the weekend and cant't see any roof material on the site so have doubt starting roof on Monday , really want to get roof as soon as so frames protect from rain.


Wednesday 7 November 2012

Bricks Completed

Got email from our SS last night and he confirmed brickies finished yesterday, that was pretty quick job completed bricks in 10 days inc scaffolding installed. Will visit the site during this week and post the photos, stay tune :)




Saturday 27 October 2012

Gorund Foor Brickwork Completed

On Friday, brickeis have completed the ground floor bricking. Scaffolding is already delivered and will be installed next week and brickies will be back hopefully on Thursday to get the first floor done, so far very happy with the brick work except was a bit of a shock to see the non-coloured side brick showing in the garage but these look perfect neaches to me will do the shelves post handover to hide non-coloured side.






Tuesday 23 October 2012

Framing Finished

Framing has been completed , all the windows, sliding doors and plumbing done. Bricks have been delivered and starting tomorrow. We'll have Independent Frame Inspection before the Gyprock goes in to have piece of mind. Below few pictures



Wednesday 10 October 2012

External Drainage

External Drainage started yesterday and hopefully will be completed today



Wednesday 3 October 2012

Slab Completed


We were expecting to have slab on coming Friday but our SS made our day by informing us slab has poured this morning wow



Friday 28 September 2012

Piering Complete

Piering completed yesterday and EB fence is up. We are hoping slab should be laid next Wednesday or Thursday fingers crossed though

Thursday 27 September 2012

Excavation Begins

EB have started Excavation for our site, very exciting for us , this is first activity on our block after 8 months mamoth efforts :). Lucky to have such great neighbour he took few shots and mms to me.



Friday 21 September 2012

Administration Complete


EB made my weekend, just got an email my file has been officially completed in estimating and site supervisor has been assigned. I am expecting site excavation next week sometime.



Thursday 13 September 2012

Red Pegs !!!

Finally the wait is over and my site is pegged. All the final draiwngs and paper work were signed off yesterday. EBH shouldn't take too long to pour the slab now.
I would advise everyone to take your time to thoroughly go through the final documents as EBH will be building your new home based of these documents, I found tons of mistakes.

 

Tuesday 28 August 2012

DA Check Complete

We were told , it would take 4-5 weeks to get EB on site after council's approval but it doesn't seem possible to me as 3 weeks have already been passed. They are very slow but good news is finally DA check has been completed and I have signed last PCV. Lets how long they take now to the final construction drawings.

Saturday 11 August 2012

Council's Approval

We lodged our application on 17th of July and got the approval in record time in 3 weeks. Even though EB scared us that Hill Council is very pedantic – so more than likely, there will be a letter requesting something to be addressed but we got approval instead so good news. Now lets see how weeks EB to take to get on the site, I hope they shouldn't take too long.

PCV Item Costs

Here are the costs of different upgrades as PCV

*Delete Standard Clarison Wire Shelving from -   (-$865)
*Provide 1No.Additional Cold water point to - * fridge space  -  $124
*Provide a Landscaping Concept Plan as required by - * Council * the Develop Control Plan - $750
*Provide stained Timber post to front facade balcony in lieu of standard paint finish - $260
*Provide a timber look steel 'Decro' garage sectional door - $1714
*Gainsborough 3003 ABC Hydraulic Door closer to Entrance door - $107
*Provide 1No. Gainsborough 700 privacy adaptor in 3 bathroom and main bedroom - $132
*External Gas Point - $132
*Hot/cold water and drain in Alfresco as basin or BBQ - $447
*Fly Screens All over the house doube story - $714
*Provide Frosted Obscure Glazing in WC/Ensuite/Bathroom in lieu of clear glass - $280
*Aluminium safety door to Laundry aluminium sliding door including installation, lock & diamond grill - $385
*Provide sliding aluminium flydoor to bedroom balcony including installation (no lock) - $227
*Translucent glazing to double entrance doors in lieu of standard - $144
*Gainsborough 3003 ABC Hydraulic Door closer to Entrance door - $107
*Provide 3No. capped off cold water points to: * Powder Room * Wc * Ensuite - $305
*Provide Stained double entry doors & frame in lieu of standard paint finish - $125
*Provide off white mortar in lieu of standard - $391

Thursday 2 August 2012

Stairs Appointment

We love the Lincoln Display home stairs. We upgraded the standard stairs to stained treads & open riser (top/bottom flight) and glass balustrade option in lieu of standard .It costs us around 6500K. We asked ourselves so many times can we justify this upgrade but it looks so beautiful I think it is worth upgrading.



Electrical Appointment

We had our Electric appointment on 12th of June. As building double story we knew we had to get all our ground floor lightining done by the builder. We spent around 11k and few item were ridiculously expensive. We selected following items and their price item are

*double power point $67
*Single power point $59
*Down light installed and fitted $120
*Foxtel point $189 (it includes 2 foxtel point and 1 phone point so you can credit the standard phone and foxtel cost you around $91)
*B/A Stairs Step Light $153
*TV Point $98
*Stainless Steel FAN $278 (charging 150$ for the fan point then fan+installation cost more than $278)
*Flush Speak Round set of two $493 for Alfresco
*Ducted Vacuum $1832
*TV Antenna with booster $635
*Wall mount tv kit $140 (Nogging/bullnose/cables)
*Power point Quad $99 (for media room foxtel/PS3/TV/DVD etc)
*Outdoor Double Power point $122
*two way switch for my hall way down lights $73
*Junction Box light $70
*Facade lights $100 call out charge and $35 for the installation and I will provide the lights otherwise they were asking $235 for one light

I got heaps of free noggings for the fan support in the room and future Chandelle.Regarding the down lights, it is bit trap , they are charging $67 per down light point, then you have to spend around $50-$60 for down light and pay $5-$10 to electrician for the downlight fittings etc so it would cost you around $130-$140 if you do after hand over. We are building double story so had no choice I got them to install down lights ground floor and will do first floor after hand over.

Flooring

We really love to had Lincoln display polished poreclean tiles but Delorenzo quoted us 25K, would you believe that ridiculous. We we are thinking to get the ground floor tiling after handover, sent an email to EBH to check how much credit we will get back and then visit CTM on weekend to get an idea how much we spend after handover.I hope EBH would come back with decent number but you never know these builders. We really want to have Timber flooring for first floor but we are already over our budget so we stick with the standard carpet and will upgrade to timber down the track 2-3 years. We'll also do the porch/alfresco flooring post handover , would be cheaper.
EBH provides skirt hight tiles in the bathrooms so we upgraded this to the vanity hight. We selected standard range wall/floor/nieche tiles, we spent around 2.5K whole.

Thursday 26 July 2012

Bathrooms Selection

We sticked with the standard in bathrooms as far as cabinet and benctop concerned. Only thing we upgraded is to have 3 drawers to vanity in lieu of standard cabinet.

Ensuite Benchtop: Laminex Platinum Micro
Ensuite Cabinet:  Laminex Blackened Linewood

Powder/Main Bathroom Benchtop: Laminex Stipple Seal
Powder/Main Bathroom Cabinet:   Laminex Fudge Stream

Laundry Selection

EBH provides standard laundry tub but we wanted banchtop and cabinet to utilize laundry properly. We upgraded to additional base cabinetry and 39 square form benchtop consisting of hinged cupboards to suit drop in tub. Washer and  dryer will sit under the benchtop. We will install over head cabinet after handover as kitchen culture is ridiculously expensive.

Laundry Benchtop: Laminex Platinum Micro
Laundry Base Cabinet: Laminex Fossil


Kitchen Selection

Kitchen was the only area where our all calculations went wrong. We spent around 11K kitchen upgrades.

1) Upgraded Kitchen laminex cabinet to Gloss Ployurethan finish (Dulux Bogart P14B5)
2) Floor mounted twin bin to undersink cabinet
3) Upgraded Tiled Splash back to Glass Splash back (Champagne Glitz)
4) Provide additional 1 door tall cabinet to LHS of the Niche next to fridge
5) Base Cabinet to RHS niche adjacent to tall cabinet
6) Provide a wall mounted microwave cabinet with 2 side hinged doors above to RHS niche
7) Provide 20mm stone benchtop to niche
8) Provide Glass splash back to niche  (Champagne Glitz)